A Cheverus High School graduate who has been a major donor to the school and a member of its board of trustees is among the hedge-fund managers who were arrested Wednesday in an insider-trading scheme that netted more than $78 million in illegal profits, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Anthony Chiasson, 38, resigned from Cheverus’ board of trustees Wednesday — the day federal agents descended on his apartment in Manhattan to arrest him on securities fraud charges.
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Chiasson was not home when the agents arrived, but later surrendered to authorities. After a court appearance, he was released on a $2.5 million bond, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Chiasson, a 1991 graduate of Cheverus, had served on the board since 2009. For the past two years, he made donations of at least $10,000 to the Jesuit high school in Portland, according to its annual reports.
Asked Thursday how Chiasson submitted his resignation, Cheverus board Chairman Mark Googins said, “He picked up the phone and called (the school).”
Googins, a partner in the Verrill Dana law firm in Portland, said he didn’t know Chiasson well but he was a good board member and “a very bright and capable fellow.”
Both Googins and Brian Dudley, Cheverus’ vice president of institutional advancement, said it was too soon to say whether the charges would affect their use of Chiasson’s donations to the school.
Dudley, who wouldn’t disclose the exact amounts of the contributions, noted that Chiasson has only been charged, not convicted, and said the school wouldn’t know how he got the money he gave to Cheverus.
Chiasson is a co-founder and former manager of Level Global Investors LP, which closed last year amid the FBI’s investigation into insider trading among a tight-knit group of hedge-fund managers and analysts.
A Bloomberg story published in March, soon after Level Global closed, described Chiasson as hard-working and low-profile, especially compared with his high-society co-founder, David Ganek.
Chiasson grew up in Portland with three siblings and attended Babson College in Massachusetts, where he also served on the board, according to Bloomberg.
Chiasson is accused of trading on non-public information, passed through a series of tips, starting with an insider at the Dell computer company, the SEC says in its complaint.
Seven fund managers and analysts from three firms were arrested and charged in the case, which also involved inside information about the technology company Nvidia. The SEC says that Level Global’s illegal profits totaled $72.6 million.
On the criminal charges lodged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, Chiasson faces as much as 20 years in prison and a $5 million fine for securities fraud and as much as five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for conspiracy to commit securities fraud. “Anthony Chiasson categorically denies having done anything improper over the course of his 16-year career in the securities industry and intends to vigorously contest these baseless charges in court,” Chiasson’s attorney, Gregory Morvillo, said in a prepared statement.
“He is looking forward to be vindicated,” Morvillo said.
Staff Writer Leslie Bridgers can be contacted at: 791-6364 or at
lbridgers@pressherald.com
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